This week may or may not be the last we’re able to source cherries for you, so we’re including 300g of delicious Lucaston Park “tidy seconds” in all boxes – where we can we love to include the imperfect produce that supermarkets reject in our boxes, firstly because it’s good value and we can give you more, and secondly because if there wasn’t a market for this imperfect produce it would be simply discarded in the pursuit of largely cosmetic perfection. Fruit supplement boxes also include two punnets of blueberries from Tru Blu Berries at Lymington, and a jumbo pack of seconds strawberries from DM Jennings & Sons. All three producers, despite their Huon locations, have luckily avoided the worst of the fires that are gutting the other side of the Huon river, but with the fires expected to burn for two or three more weeks before nature will provide the rain to extinguish them, no-one’s out of the woods yet. Rounding out the fruit supplement, subscriber Kristin supplied us with enough of her home-grown apricots for everyone to get a few – and as always, produce supplied that we can use in the boxes earns credit to the value we’d pay any of our growers for their produce.
$20, $30 and $40 boxes all include an avocado from Avoland, a big success story in Tasmanian in the last few years proving that avocados grow just as well in our cooler climate as they do in the warmer states of Australia with a little bit of ingenuity and know-how. For those who haven’t enjoyed an Avoland avocado before, please note that due to the much shorter supply chain you’ll receive your avocado before it’s ripe. Avocados are picked hard and green from the tree, and left at room temperature will ripen up in one to two weeks. This process can be slowed down by keeping them at no lower than 8 degrees, but they should NOT be refrigerated until completely ripe. We’ve made the decision to where possible supply you with week old avocados so that they’re at least partially on the way to being ripe, but we won’t provide ripe avocados as there’s a good chance of them brusing in transit. We recommend leaving them out on the bench, or even the window-sill – the sun won’t hurt them – until they’re black all over, and the flesh around the stem-hole can be easily “wobbled” with your thumb. Your patience will be rewarded – Avoland avocados aren’t picked until their solid matter – i.e. fat content, flavour – is fully developed, making them extra creamy and delicious.
